SHOW: Beyond Belief - Beyond Belief soon turns out to be a very interactive show, with volunteers needed for just about every trick, so Peel’s method of “randomly” choosing a volunteer – tossing a ball into the audience and telling them up front that the third person to catch it needs to come up onstage – backfires somewhat, as unwilling participants merely let it bounce off them until someone finally takes pity on the performer.

CAST: Brendon Peel
VENUE: Masonic Hall, Grahamstown

That sort of awkwardness unsettles Peel, which may be why much of his banter as he sets up for each illusion is stilted and unnatural. It’s something that will improve with experience, no doubt.

As he’s starting to lose his audience, though, Peel asks for his audience to call out numbers, which he inputs into a Sudoku grid before completing a bewildering set of calculations to fill in all the rest of the blocks.

Once you check his maths, it’s clear that, using trickery or otherwise, there’s a sharp mind at work there.

Peel then applies the same sort of technique to a skit in which he explains the meaning of obscure words chosen by volunteers and is again successful, although he seems rather smug as he delivers his result, which rather undermines the achievement: if he were more laid-back, onlookers would perhaps be more impressed.

Ever greater numbers of volunteers are pressed into action – if Peel had had a slightly smaller crowd for the show reviewed here, he would have run out of options – to shackle his wrists and then provide a screen while he effortlessly wriggles out of them, as well as other bits and pieces.

Ultimately, there’s just not enough polish in Peel’s act, as alert observers will spot (or hear) a couple of tells in what should be climactic parts of the performance.

And sharing aspects of the show with better known performers such as Ilan Smith (their respective shows end in the same way) means that comparisons are only fair, with Peel coming up well short in relative slickness and poise terms.